National Lampoon's Animal House: Double Secret Probation Edition: HD DVD And DVD Combo Format Disc Review

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Title: National Lampoon’s Animal House: Double Secret Probation Edition: HD DVD And DVD Combo Format

Media: HD DVD/DVD Hybrid Disc

Region: One (DVD Side Only)

Genre: Comedy

Stars: John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Thomas Hulce, Cesare Danova, Donald Sutherland, Stephen Furst, Karen Allen, Peter Riegert, Mark Metcalf, and Kevin Bacon

Writers: Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney, and Chris Miller

Director: John Landis

Feature length: 109 minutes

Extras: Where Are They Now? A Delta Alumni Update – Mocumentary, Anecdotes Text Track, The Yearbook: An Animal House Reunion, “Shout” Music Video, Trailer, Cast and Crew Biographies and Filmographies, Production Notes

HD DVD Languages: English and French Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Plus Surround Sound

HD DVD Subtitles: English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hearing Impaired and French, and Spanish Language Subtitles

DVD Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Two-Channel Monaural Sound

DVD Subtitles: English Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles

Packaging: Elite Red HD Case

HD DVD & DVD Chapter Stops: 36

HD DVD Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Plus Surround Sound

DVD Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Monaural Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 1978/HD DVD & DVD Combo Format Release: 2006

Theatrical Distributor: Universal Pictures

Home Video Distributor: Universal Studios Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: R

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

Imitated, but never equaled, “National Lampoon’s Animal House” is the quintessential college party comedy. Not even the film’s Director, Writers, and Producer have ever been able to capture the impact and success “National Lampoon’s Animal House” has had on American comedy films. I think a large part is due in part to the fact that there was not anything quite like it before and everything that has followed since has perhaps been unfairly raised up to “National Lampoon’s Animal House” as the litmus test of comedic quality and nothing has yet surpassed it. Yet there have been quite a few funny comedies over the years that were either directed, produced, and written by John Landis, Ivan Reitman, and Harold Ramis in various combinations and featuring numerous “Saturday Night Live” alumni that have given it the good old college try.

“National Lampoon’s Animal House” along with “Unleashed” are the first two HD DVD and DVD Combo Format titles to be released by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. The format is not unlike the Warner Home Video hybrids with one side containing the high definition version in 1080p resolution where available and the other side containing the “Double Secret Probation Edition” DVD in a native 480p format. Since HD DVD players can upconvert standard definition DVD titles to 1080i via HDMI output, the film has virtual near HD clarity, but the main difference between the HD version and the DVD version lies in the background details as well as solid color saturation. For example, when Tom Hulce and Stephen Furst’s characters enter the Omega house and are quickly put to the side with other candidates who are “politely” being snubbed, you can see the difference in the woodwork patterns behind them. Some may say they can’t tell the difference, but to the trained eye, the HD version is more detailed, but not overtly better than the DVD version.

The source transfer that was initially so clear that Director John Landis is rumored to have requested the picture quality be lessoned a bit per his artistic choice, is the same for both versions and for a film from the 1970s, “National Lampoon’s Animal House” is definitely one of the better looking films on both HD DVD and DVD. Both versions present the film in a widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio that looks pretty good and the English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is actually pretty full sounding considering more than 25 years or so that have past since the film was originally released theatrically. The original English Two-Channel Monaural Soundtrack is also included along with English Captions for the hearing impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles as options too. The HD DVD side features a Dolby Digital 5.1 Plus Surround Soundtrack in English or dubbed in French, but I found it difficult to discern much of a difference between the two soundtracks on the respective sides of this HD DVD/DVD hybrid. So while the picture quality is improved on the HD side, when upconverting the standard definition DVD side, the difference is mostly noticeable in the background details and in the more solid colors the HD DVD side benefits from. Otherwise in terms of picture and sound given the equipment availability, which has to be taken into consideration since further firmware and hardware upgrades will no doubt change the manner in which the film is viewed and the versions compared, the HD DVD version did not seem like a vast improvement over the DVD version though if you do not already own the film and have or are planning to buy an HD DVD player, this is the version to buy because regardless the picture and sound are quite good. If it is not an issue to have the HD DVD version and you already have the Double Secret Probation DVD edition from 2003, I do not think an upgrade is necessary. English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired as well as French and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded onto the HD DVD side as options.

All of the extra value features are on the standard definition side, including the text commentary. This tends to be the case with the Warner Home Video hybrid discs too. I guess it frees of space for a better high definition picture and soundtrack on the HD DVD side. The text track of anecdotes regarding the making of the film does not have that many trivia facts revealed and few are all that interesting to begin with. Fortunately one can disable and toggle between Caption and Subtitle options while watching the film without the need of returning to the interactive menus on the DVD side. The same holds true for the soundtrack. Other extra value features include the 2003 mocumentary “Where Are They Now?” (23:22), which features many cast members reprising their character roles for this short to give viewers an idea of what happened to their characters. Directed by John Landis, this short is not as funny as one would hope although it is nice to learn what happened to certain characters and to see some of the actors reprising their roles again. Next is a surprisingly lengthy documentary with brand new videotaped cast and filmmaker interviews as well as archived behind-the-scenes film from the production entitled “The Yearbook: An Animal House Reunion” (45:16).

Onscreen production notes, cast and crew biographies and filmographies, the theatrical trailer, and a music video for the song “Shout” covered by MxPx (4:20) wrap up the extra features directly related to this feature. The main menu on the DVD side is animated with scenes from the film while the subsequent menus are standard interactive still frames that are easy to navigate. The menus on the HD DVD side, which can be accessed while the film is in progress are very responsive and seemed to work faster than I expected. This might be to the recent firmware upgrades made available by Toshiba for the first generation HD DVD players they sell.

“National Lampoon’s Animal House: Double Secret Probation Edition: HD DVD And DVD Combo Format ” is available now at retailers on and offline from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

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